The Justice Department plans to announce charges against individuals in the Chinese military, accusing them of hacking U.S. companies for trade secrets, the first time the U.S. government has publicly accused employees of a foreign power with cybercrimes against American firms, according to people familiar with the matter. The move to charge five individuals who allegedly worked for the People’s Liberation Army to hack into U.S. company systems marks a major escalation of the fight with China over such intrusions. U.S. government officials have long complained that China aggressively targets U.S. companies for trade secrets that would give Chinese companies a competitive advantage--a charge China has denied, saying such accusations have no basis in fact. Attorney General Eric Holder and senior Federal Bureau of Investigation officials plan to announce the charges Monday morning, these people said. The charges are to be filed against five people who allegedly worked for a part of the People’s Liberation Army known as Unit 61398 in Shanghai, these people said. The hackers allegedly stole some of the design information for a nuclear power plant, as well as cost and pricing information from a solar panel firm, these people said.An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.

Follow the MoneyThe Clinton money machine has been tapping into corporate cash. According to the Journal's analysis, Bill and Hillary Clinton have helped raise more than $1 billion from U.S. companies and corporate executives in the past two decades—giving Mrs. Clinton a potential advantage in 2016 should she decide to run and bringing industry donors back in large numbers to the Democratic Party for the first time since her husband left the White House. Our story looks at the sources of this money. We find that financial services, including Wall Street, have been one of the single largest providers of cash since Mr. Clinton's 1992 campaign, with Goldman Sachs the couple's No. 1 Wall Street contributor. We note that while Republicans worry that Mrs. Clinton's fundraising operation could give her an early lead in the next presidential race, some Democrats are also disturbed by the donations. Take a look at how we calculated the fundraising here.

The latest big U.S. company to attempt a “tax inversion” is drugmaker Mylan (MYL), which plans to acquire a Dutch entity and relocate its HQ to the Netherlands, where taxes are lower. Mylan’s CEO happens to be Heather Bresch, the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.); she says she has spent plenty of time explaining to members of Congress why the U.S. tax code drives corporations overseas. “You know what they all say?” Bresch told the New York Times. “‘Yeah, uh huh, O.K. Uh huh.’”Tax inversions have become a trendy new way for big companies to cut costs by taking advantage of tax rates in many other developed nations that are lower than U.S. rates. There have been more than 20 such deals since 2012, with at least a dozen more pending, involving firms such as Walgreen (WAG), Medtronic (MED), Chiquita Brands (CQB) and a division of Merck (MRK).You might think Congress would take an urgent interest in government policies that effectively drive the nation’s own companies out of the country — especially since there’s so much bellyaching in Washington about government deficits and the need for more revenue. Yet aside from a few proposals from individual lawmakers, there’s no sign of Congressional action anytime soon to address the problem.It's just not that much moneyHere’s one reason why: As mercenary as the practice may seem, tax inversions, so far, aren’t likely to cost the U.S. government a great deal of money. The Wall Street Journal recently reported “the U.S. stands to lose billions” from the practice, as if “billions” is an outrageously large sum. The analysis that article is based on, however, found that a new bill aimed at preventing inversions would raise just $19.6 billion in additional taxes — over 10 years. So at the current pace, tax inversion only costs Uncle Sam about $2 billion per year.To you and me that’s a lot of money, but $2 billion is less than one-tenth of one percent of all federal revenue. The tax savings are important to a firm such as Mylan, which competes with other firms already taking advantage of lower foreign tax rates. So there’s pressure on CEOs to make such deals, no matter how objectionable they may seem to U.S. taxpayers. But the impact on federal finances is tiny.To put the number in context, Congress is now trying to figure out how to plug an annual hole in the Highway Trust Fund of about $10 billion. So even if Congress were to overcome frantic corporate lobbying and change the law to make tax inversions harder to accomplish or even illegal, it would still generate just one-fifth of the revenue needed to solve another pressing problem. Many members of Congress probably weigh the cost of a political battle with the powerful business lobby and figure it’s not worth the trouble.Corporate taxes as a whole, in fact, account for a lot less of the government’s revenue than many people think. Taxes paid by companies generate just 10% of all federal revenue, or about $300 billion per year. Personal income taxes account for 47% of federal revenue, with payroll taxes — used to fund Medicare and Social Security — providing another 34%. Excise taxes, estate taxes and a variety of fees generate the remainder.Instead of passing new laws meant to outlaw tax inversions, Congress could change the tax code to better align U.S. taxes with rates in other countries and reduce the incentive for U.S. firms to skip town. The federal corporate tax rate of 35% is one of the highest in the developed world, and even after factoring in loopholes and deductions, U.S. firms, on average, pay an “effective” tax rate higher than in all other developed nations except Japan and France. Republicans have pressed for years to lower the nation’s corporate tax rate, and even President Obama favors lowering the U.S. rate to 28%, provided loopholes are closed.But tax reform is one of those legislative priorities that seems impossible in such a hostile political environment, even if there’s general agreement across the spectrum that it’s badly needed. Many Republicans and Democrats agree in principle on the need to simplify the tax code. But they differ sharply on how to do it, which augurs a huge political fight if Congress even tries. Easier to complain about those unpatriotic corporations while tacitly supporting the status quo.Rick Newman’s latest book is Rebounders: How Winners Pivot From Setback To Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.